Firsts
by chilledcreme
Summary: A series of firsts between Leo and Nico, beginning with how they officially met... It started pretty crazy, so one could expect that it will be crazy! Written based on a post by british-winged-demigod on Tumblr. Cover art is by me, but very much inspired by a post by sassy-nicos on Tumblr. Eventual slash.
1. Fall

**Author's note below. Enjoy!**

* * *

One moment, Nico di Angelo was just admiring the view from the Argo II at night. The next, he was falling to his death.

* * *

Nico was kind of a lone wolf. Just because he was on the _Argo II _now, didn't mean he was really a part of anything. Hazel would try and try again to get him to hang out with her and Frank, or her and some other people, or just eat something, but he never really wanted to. He wasn't very good with people and was better off with ghosts. But, since there were no ghosts on the Argo II, he had no choice but to find other activities, most of which included lying in his makeshift cabin in the horse stables, which were never used, and listening to music. Sometimes he would come around to the mess hall to get a drink or a small bite to eat, but someone was always in there and tried to make conversation with him. Jason would timidly ask about his sword, Piper would just awkwardly say hi, and then pretend she saw something wrong with her nails; Hazel would just look at him with a twinge of sadness in her eyes, and Frank would just nod. Most of these he just responded with a nod or a grunt. People were boring, and the only other people he knew were Annabeth and Percy, who were currently stuck in Tartarus, probably – no, Nico knew they were _definitely _scared out of their minds. But he'd never really seen Leo unless he was running around fixing the ship, and Leo never talked to him, which he was fine with. He liked to be alone.

So that's why he was on the deck in the middle of the night, admiring the view of the random city they were passing over. The moonlight made everything look filtered with indigo, shades from black to silvery-white. From the looks of it, it was a smaller city; he could see the entirety of it from the boat, even at their height, and there were no huge buildings, just a bunch of houses, so there wasn't much light pollution to block the stars. That was his favorite part about the_ Argo II _at night; the stars. If they were in the middle of a desert or just far away from general population, Nico could sometimes see a very faint, almost milky looking streak of white across the sky, which could have been an arm to their galaxy; he didn't know. He just knew it was better than sleep.

The wind was a bit stronger than normal, causing his hair to stir and blow into his face, so he hardly heard Leo come on to the deck until he saw him next to him, and nearly jumped over the rail.

Leo just grinned and leaned himself against the rail, looking at the stars. Nico just calmed his breathing again and resumed his position, not knowing what to say.

Leo sighed. "Sometimes I come out here when I need to collect my thoughts; it's very calming."

Nico nodded in agreement.

Leo continued. "But I also used to come out here to make sure I could be alone."

Nico's expression remained indifferent.

Leo sighed again. He kept looking at the stars, as if he were talking to them.

"Listen, I'm no genius, but I know you knew Percy and Annabeth longer than any of us, and better than any of us. So I know it sucks." Leo didn't say what "it" was, but Nico understood perfectly. Still, he just stared into the night. Leo was wondering if he was even listening or if he just didn't choose to show it. Then again, this was probably really awkward for him, as he had only ever seen Nico from a distance in the two weeks he'd been aboard the ship. He'd just been too busy with repairs and such to say a word to the guy.

Now Leo didn't know what to say, as he lost his train of thought. He ran a nervous hand through his hair.

"I really don't know what to say, and I can't guarantee we'll get them both out okay and that everything will be perfect rainbows and sunshine, which I'm sure Piper would appreciate," Leo joked. Nico smirked, although just a little, and Leo took this as a good sign.

He looked back to the distance.

"But I want you to know we're here. We're all your friends; doesn't matter how long we've known you. And, if you still want to come out here at night and avoid us during the day, that's cool, I don't judge you. But I want you to know that… you aren't alone. We've all got ghosts; we've all got things to deal with. That's what being a demigod is about. But we support each other with that, you included."

Nico still just looked at the city, absorbing Leo's words. He'd never really thought about it like that. He just thought people wanted to talk to him because they felt sorry for him, he'd never thought about what they might hold in their consciences too.

Leo could tell Nico understood, although he didn't react much. He decided to just leave him to contemplate that, figuring he would act on it if he wanted to. Feeling happy that he pulled that speech off, he nodded and said goodnight, ready to get out of the damn wind, when the ship was hit by a wind pocket, rocking everything and almost throwing Nico overboard. Stuff tipped over and the whole boat creaked, and Nico was sure the others would have been woken up if not thrown from their beds by it. It soon settled and he regained his balance, looking over at Leo.

But Leo wasn't there.

At first, Nico just looked behind him, ready to see Leo sprawled on the ground, but he wasn't there either. That's when his stomach dropped when he realized, Leo had gone over the ship. Nico grasped the rail to look over, and, sure enough, Leo was falling, getting smaller second by second. There was no time to get Jason; Leo would be dead by then. So, in an act of heroic stupidity and panic, Nico jumped overboard.

At first he freaked, flailing and wondering why he did this. Now they would just have two dead people instead of one. The he realized what he could do to possibly save them both. Smartly, Nico shifted into a diving position to fall faster and catch up with Leo. He did, and could tell this wasn't going to be easy. Leo was freaking out, screaming something lost in the wind, his face terrified. Their clothes were flapping wildly and Nico's vision was beginning to be blurred by the tears starting to sting at his eyes. He reached out and grabbed Leo while he could still see him, wrapping his arms around him, and Leo clutched the front of his shirt. They didn't have much time before they hit the ground.

Leo looked him in the eye and tried saying something, but Nico couldn't understand.

"I said, what are you doing?! You're going to get yourself killed!" he shouted over the wind.

Nico just hugged him tighter, looking over his shoulder. They were almost to the ground. Thank the gods, they were falling into an alley; a dark, shadow filled alley.

He didn't know if this was possible, but it was worth a try. Seconds before possible death, he grabbed a hold of the back of Leo's jacket and shouted, "Do you trust me?!"

Leo's face looked like he was accepting death. He just closed his eyes and nodded.

Nico concentrated with his entire mind on that shadow, in that alley. Thank the gods the adrenaline from falling was giving him extra energy, because he was going to need it. He focused on the thought of Leo's room, preferably his bed, since it would be uncomfortable if they landed on the floor. He concentrated on opening up the shadow, and didn't even think about what would happen if he failed; he didn't have time for that.

They met the ground.

At first, Nico didn't know what to think. Were they still falling? He didn't feel any wind, and his hair wasn't moving, although it was in a crazy, windblown state. With his arms still wrapped around Leo, he peeked an eye open. They were in Leo's room, on his bed. Everything was peacefully quiet, as if nothing had even happened.

They made it.

They both still sat there, clinging to each other and breathing heavily. Leo's eyes were as wide as an owl's and he just stared Nico, who realized he was awkwardly sprawled across the guy. But neither moved. They had just fallen off the _ship, _for Hades' sake.

Leo, underneath Nico, collapsed onto the bed, closing his eyes.

"_Santa mierda_."

Nico crawled off and just kneeled next to Leo, not wanting or really even needing to know what he said; he could assume. They could hear people starting to leave their rooms, asking questions and walking about. Soon someone would enter Leo's room, probably wondering why Nico was in there.

They both sat there, allowing what just happened to settle in. It had happened so quickly, and they were both _so close _to death…

Leo turned on his side, facing Nico. "Thanks," he said, with a million different emotions poured into that one word.

Nico nodded, collapsing onto the bed beside him. "No prob."

Leo propped himself on one elbow, reaching out his other hand toward Nico.

He grinned. "Nice to meet you. I'm Leo Valdez, Captain of the _Argo II_."

Nico just looked at him, dumbstruck. This was going to be an interesting… _relationship_, given the way it started.

He grasped his hand, which burned against his colder one, but not in a bad way. "I'm Nico di Angelo, Ghost King. Nice to meet you too."

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**This is going to be a fun story... I'll try to update often, but I'm not going to have a schedule... two weeks is definitely the most I would go without updating, and even that's pushing it. Hope you liked it! If it's a favorite, fav, if you want to know what happens next, follow, and if you have something (anything!) to say, review! It would mean the world.**

**Thanks!**

**-chilledcreme**

**UPDATE: I have not given up on this fic, and i know its been almost a month... writing's been kind of slow given its summer and stuff but im working on it. Thanks :)**


	2. Avoidance

**A/N below... enjoy!**

* * *

A week had passed since what Leo had labeled as "the incident," in which he literally almost fell to his death, he still kept up his usual running madly around, fixing random things and making sure they weren't flying straight toward a mountain. It was a lot easier, though, after he used the Archimedes sphere to upgrade the ship. Definitely made life a bit easier, given he was the only person on the ship who knew the difference between a Phillip and a normal screw driver.

He now had the ship set to sail toward Epirus, the mortal side of the Doors of Death. There, they were going to face plenty of Gaea's forces, and as Leo liked to put it – shit was gonna go down.

These thoughts kept him up at night. He knew he should get some sleep, but oh, he could be making a system that detects monsters and a self-controlled gun that will aim at them and blast them back to Tartarus, or he could be trying to make some armor specialized for each person on the ship, because he couldn't stand to lose anyone (if they hadn't already), and –So many things Leo wanted to do, all more important than sleep. So, instead of sleep, he decided to go down to the engine room, read some of the scrolls and tinker around.

So in essence, Leo was torturing himself from sleep. His thoughts scattered from Percy and Annabeth to new things he could do for the ship to almost _dying_- Leo didn't see Nico anywhere. He didn't know why this disappointed him; he figured that since they almost fell to their deaths together that they would at least be on acquaintance terms, but he guessed that the guy really liked his space. He hadn't really asked for Leo to fall over, anyway. He saved him, and that was that. Not like he was gonna let him die cause he's antisocial.

So that was that, Leo figured. So why would that be disappointing? They had hardly interacted before the fall. Why would he need to afterwards?

Leo realized too late that he had been tightening a bolt and had gotten a bit carried away. Soon the bolt broke, half of it still in the machine. He cursed. He must have gotten carried away, just a little too high strung.

Leo kept working until his hands ached and his eyes were bleary from lack of sleep. He didn't know what time it was by the time he'd finished; had to be past noon by the time he made it to the mess hall. Piper, Frank, and Hazel were in there. Leo was almost surprised that Jason wasn't with her, but then again things had been a little tense since Percy and Annabeth fell into… He quickly caught himself before his thoughts could drift into a dangerous zone, carefully keeping his mind blank and emotions suppressed. Nobody looked at him as he made his way to the counter of foods; they knew better than to mess with a high-strung Latino mechanic suffering from insomnia.

Well, almost all of them.

Leo nearly jumped through the ceiling when he turned around, muffin in hand, to find Piper standing directly behind him, hands on hips and returning the same blank expression he'd had moments before. She looked him up and down, and then furrowed her brows.

"Come with me," was all she said, before she spun on her heels and made her way out. Leo was stunned, looking and Frank and Hazel. They just returned his expression of "what-the-heck-just-happened" and shrugged. Leo shook his head and followed. She'd hunt him down either way.

He made his way into the hallway to find her standing by her room, door open. She led him inside, then turned around and locked the door.

Leo gulped.

They faced each other for a few moments. It wasn't awkward; more of a natural silence. They hadn't really talked since everything had happened. She moved to sit by Leo, her shoulders sagging as if giving up all pretense of being okay. He copied.

"I'm tired," Leo said. And it was true in every sense of the word. He was tired; he needed sleep. But he was tired of pretending. He was tired of suppressing emotions which were all stirred and messed up since the fall, tired of avoiding everyone. He was tired of the tension and he just wanted everyone back, and everything back to normal. He actually missed when their biggest problems were finding Hera and getting Jason's memory back.

Piper looked at him, understanding. "I know." Then she cleared her throat and stood up.

"I'm confronting you for a reason, Leo. I don't normally like to play "match-maker" or whatever, but it _is_ in my blood. Literally." Leo managed a weak smile at that, continuing to avoid her gaze in preference to the floor.

She halted in front of him. "I know something happened between you and Nico."

Leo's face paled, and he looked up. "What?"

She rolled her eyes. "C'mon, _everyone _noticed something happened that night when wind rocked the ship. It's kind of obvious, given he came out of your room moments later. He hasn't said anything about it to anyone."

Leo opened his mouth, trying to find something to say. He closed it, then opened it again.

"We didn't do anything!"

Piper shot him a "you're-gonna-have-to-do-better-than-that" look, folding her arms.

He swallowed. "I went up to the deck and found him there, and we both fell over the railing when the ship was hit." She gaped. "Well, I did. He jumped after me."

Piper continued gaping at him for a few moments. "How did you survive?" She whispered.

Leo shrugged. "I guess he can shadow travel? Luckily we fell into a dark alley."

She nodded, absorbing this information. "Well," she said. "That explains it."

He laughed.

Piper, who is smart enough as a demigod not to get too upset at near death experiences lest you wanted to be upset all the time, looked at him. "You need to talk to him, Leo."

All traces of amusement left his face. "Why? He clearly doesn't want to talk to me, Mr. 'I'm-All-Private-And-Dark-And-Mysterious'. Nothing's changed in the least since that happened. I thought, heck, maybe we were at least 'acquaintances' since we both almost _died _together, but he clearly thinks otherwise."

Silence followed the little rant. Leo huffed and blew a smoking bit of curly hair from his face and Piper just looked at him like he was the most clueless thing in the world.

"It can never hurt to try, right?"

He sighed, annoyed (wasn't he supposed to be the one annoying people?), ready to fight her response, then saw the reasoning in it. He shouldn't be mad at Nico for not trying to talk to him when he hadn't, either.

"Fine. Maybe I will."

She smiled, finally satisfied. "Good. Now, if you'll excuse me," she said, lifting him up and shoving him toward the door. Hadn't she been the one to drag him here in the first place?

She winked before shutting the door behind her. He glared at it half-heartedly before turning away, laughing.

"_Niña tonta."_

* * *

**Oh my god. I am a filthy, rotten liar.**

**"hey guys, ill update after two weeks at the most"**

**yeah how about _two months_**

**My SINCEREST apologies to those following this story, officially or otherwise! I feel so bad, but whether it takes two months, two years, or two days, i would never abandon my stories. You have my word on that.**

**So yes. Sorry if this chapter didn't quite meet expectations, i kind of rushed to get something in so you guys could have _something._ I realize this is kind of a filler chapter, but following should be the good. :D**

**Thank you so much, please review and follow if you want to see more, favorite if it's a favorite!**

**xx**

**-chilledcreme **


	3. Fire

The next day, Leo got at the unhealthy hour of three to do some repairs and maintenance. His body ached and his head throbbed, but he pushed it all aside. He couldn't deal with the nightmares, although he knew he couldn't deal with the lack of sleep any longer either, but that was different. At least, that's the way he saw it. His personal issues were not top priority right now.

He worked in the engine room for hours, doing routine checkups on all the machines. His hands slightly shook and he sometimes had to blink really hard and shake his head to ignore the headaches. It definitely didn't help when he heard someone's feet shuffle mere meters from where he was hard at work rolled under a machine, bumping his head hard on one of the pipes.

After taking a moment to rethink why the _fuck _would anyone want to bother him right now -it was probably eight in the morning- he wheeled out from under the machine. The throbbing in his head picked up excessively when he saw it was Nico di Angelo. Leo groaned and leaned his head back onto the ground, hair flopping back.

There was a pause, and the feet shuffled back a bit. "Uh, do you want me to leave?"

Leo sighed, sitting up. "That depends on what you want."

Nico was standing awkwardly across the row of machines, leaning against a machine that connected to the boiler. His face struggled to stay blank, but Leo could see the apprehension in his eyes. He watched as Nico relaxed his hands, ready to plant them on the surface of the machine. _Stupid,_ Leo thought as he bolted faster than his sore limbs would've liked. Nico's hand was going to land on a distinctly hot pipe.

In the next moment, Nico's eyes widened marginally at Leo suddenly pouncing at him, probably thinking he was going to attack him. Not caring, he grabbed Nico's forearm and pulled him away quickly.

Nico looked at him like he was a madman as Leo planted him in the middle of the row of machinery, hands now on his shoulders. Leo's face said _"what-the-hell-are-you-really-crazy" _and Nico's wasn't far off. He was seriously considering leaving.

Leo quickly turned and gestured to the pipe wordlessly, like a magician would show off something before he made it disappear. Then, he reached into his tool belt and pulled out a bottle of water. Opening it, he poured some into his hand, and dumped it onto the pipe. The water hardly had time to sizzle and steam before no trace of it was left.

Leo turned back, saying, "Now do you understand?"

Nico gulped, eyes still on the pipe. His expression stayed blank, but his eyes no longer said he thought Leo was crazy.

Ready to get over the awkward moment, Leo walked a couple feet away and grabbed a stool, dragging it back with him. He set it roughly down by Nico, then returned to the creeper on the ground, sitting and facing him.

Nico wordlessly looked around, face betraying no emotion. Leo just watched, slightly perturbed that he had been interrupted for this.

"They have cinnamon rolls in the mess hall."

Leo laid on the creeper and rolled under the machine once again. "Really?"

"Yeah."

Leo frowned. "I have a bit more work to do, but I should be out soon."

There was a slight silence for acknowledgment. "So what are you working on?"

Leo grunted, reaching down to grab his rag to wipe the sweat and grime from his face, then returning it to his pocket. "This is the ventilator- it runs air conditioning, heat, or just air through the ship. I'm fixing the fan; it's too loud."

Nico was silent for a moment. "So do you spend a lot of time in here?"

Leo tilted his head acknowledging, though he couldn't see him. "Pretty much. Gotta keep up maintenance or the ship won't work. Thing's'll fall apart, get rusty. "

"Doesn't it ever get boring?"

Leo rolled out a little, enough to bring Nico into eyesight. He was no longer looking around, instead looking at Leo, despite the fact they couldn't see each other. Well, not by eyesight. Nico seemed surprised when he could suddenly see Leo's face, eyes trailing to his from wherever they were a moment before.

He patted the floor, a goofy grin coming onto his face. "How would I ever get tired of this old girl?"

Nico raised a speculative eyebrow. "'Old girl?'"

Leo gestured around him. "The ship!" he said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "M'lady! Don't you know a ship is always a woman?"

Nico settled on look at a point past Leo's face, nodding in agreement. "I guess."

Leo chuckled and rolled back under the machine.

After a moment, he decided to speak his mind. "So what really brings you to my office?"

He could practically hear the smirk.

"Cinnamon rolls..?"

Leo furrowed his brows, screwing in an extra-stubborn bolt. "Well, some people would normally leave after informing someone of cinnamon rolls. You, I believe, are one of those people. Or I thought." Then he smirked. "Just couldn't resist my awesomeness, I see. It's okay. It happens to many people."

He could also practically feel the glare he was likely to have earned. "I could tell by the line of people waiting outside."

Leo hissed, still smiling. "Ouch."

With a final turn of the bolt, securing the panel to enclose the parts, Leo stuffed the wrench into his belt and rolled out. He stood up, knees slightly popping and head throbbing. Ignoring this again, he turned around, feeling Nico's curious gaze. Pressing a few buttons and flipping a switch, the ventilator whirred to life. He waited a few tense moments, hearing almost nothing but the air it began running through the ship.

Perfect.

With a gleeful sigh, he wiped the last of the sweat from his face, his work being done. It was working properly and soundlessly, and he was free to get some food. Thinking about it, he had almost nothing to do for the rest of the day. They just had to continue their flight to Epirus.

He didn't know whether he was happy about that or not.

Dismissing the thought, Leo turned around to face Nico, who returned a look of annoyance, and clapped his hands. "Wanna get some breakfast?"

* * *

A few minutes later, they arrived in the mess hall. Everyone was in there, which wasn't normal as of late. They all looked up when they walked in, waving and greeting them (Frank too, which surprised Leo.) He noticed a few faces at his current state.

"I had to get some cinnamon rolls before they were gone; I couldn't risk taking a shower."

He stopped behind Piper at reached his hand to muss her hair a bit, but she just slapped it away.

"No way, dude. Not when you look like that."

He laughed, and led the way to the bar where all the muffins and other breakfast foods were, Nico following him, almost reluctantly, though. Leo let out a whoop, goofy grin spreading on his face, when he spotted a half of a tray of fresh cinnamon rolls. Hearing a few laughs behind him, he grabbed a plate, filling it with three cinnamon rolls and an apple.

"So what took so long?" Jason asked as Leo sat. "Nico went to get you, like, fifteen minutes ago."

He just shrugged and began to devour the cinnamon roll, moaning obnoxiously at the warm, flaky pastry, and ignoring the creeped-out glare Nico shot him. "Who _made _these?!" He said over a mouthful. He needed some milk.

While he retrieved a glass, promptly thinking of milk and watching the cup fill, Piper and Hazel raised their hands, grinning at each other. "She's teaching me how to cook," Piper said proudly. Leo made sure to give them both kisses on the cheek on his way back, Piper making a "blech" sound and Hazel just giving him a look that dared him to try. He blew a kiss instead, and she smiled. Glancing at Frank, he could've sighed in relief. The guy was actually _laughing. _In fact, so was most everyone else. Even Nico, in his own Nico way of smirking and slightly blushing.

They quickly joined into a conversation, talking about random things that had no relevance to their mission. It was nice; it hadn't been this way in a long time. Things had been so tense since Percy and Annabeth fell into Tartarus, no one had gotten any healthy conversation. It all seemed to be either strictly business or arguing, and Leo had enough after day two of that. That's when he officially started his work-constantly-and-avoid-anything-else schedule.

But this was nothing like that. It was a relief, like running a burn under cold water. They connected and joked, and laughed and just enjoyed each other's company. Leo guessed this was the first time he'd hung out with anyone on the ship period, and he seemed to be enjoying himself. Leo would glance every so often, and often found him picking away at the cinnamon roll, and small smile on his lips but a larger one in his eyes. Once he was surprised when Leo made a comment and looked up at Nico, who looked back at him, and he actually _laughed. _An honest-to-gods smile, eyes crinkling and dimples showing. His laugh was simple, smooth as a breath, but sounded a little underused. Leo guessed he probably didn't laugh much. He made another mental note to change that.

* * *

After about an hour of friendly conversation, he stood up and put his tray in the dishwasher. He brushed his hands on his pants, then clapped.

"Well, I'm back off to the grind." He glanced once more at his friends, savoring a bit more of the moment, because even he knew that once you took the water away, the burn would still be there.

He began to leave, and hadn't noticed that Nico had also stood, hands in his pockets and face back to its neutral expression. He considered him as he walked along.

"Care to join?"

Nico shrugged, and followed him anyway. They were halfway down the hallway to the engine room when Nico began to talk. "So, what else do you have to do?"

Leo glanced behind him, and Nico actually met his eyes. His expression remained blank, and Leo began to wonder if that was normal for this guy.

He turned back around. "Just going to check the ventilator quick, make sure it's still running properly, and do a quick run-over of everything. Then nothing, I guess. I don't know what-"

Leo didn't have time to finish that sentence, because when they entered the engine room, the first thing he registered was _I smell smoke. _Nico must have smelled it also, because his expression turned into a confused panic. He jogged in, headed to turn down the aisle to the ventilator, and sure enough they saw smoke coming from the bottom of it. Leo dropped the wrench he had gotten from his tool belt and raced to it.

"No, no no no no no no!" After turning it off, he dropped to his knees and prepared to go under, when Nico grabbed his shoulder. He whipped to face him; he didn't have time for this!

"Back up," he said fiercely, shoving Nico back. Nico made a move for him again, which he swatted away.

"What are you doing?!" he heard Nico cry as he crawled under.

He quickly loosened the bolts, the panel coming undone. At this, more oxygen was fed to the fire, and it practically exploded in his face, which of course had no effect on him. He did hear Nico shriek, and felt him trying to pull at his legs. He knew Nico needed to back up or he could get seriously hurt… He grabbed the metal frame to keep from being dragged by Nico, who was a lot stronger than he might seem. With his free hand, he retrieved another bottle of water from the belt and unscrewed it with his mouth, taking a large mouthful and spraying it blindly at the machine. After a few more tries and a loud pop, which prompted Nico to start kicking him, the fire was almost gone. Leo then reached his hand up and willed the flame onto him, then properly extinguished it. Satisfied that the machine way no longer in danger, he crawled out, not even bothering to screw the panel shut.

When he sat up, he grinned and said, "Fire's out."

Apparently, that had been the wrong thing to say. Nico's face stared at him in utter disbelief, eyes watery and breathing heavy. Leo frowned, realizing Nico didn't know he was immune to being burned. He probably thought Leo was being burned to death under there.

"How are you okay?" Nico struggled to whisper, as his body didn't seem able to do much else. Leo should not be okay, he should be burnt, his face… should be _gone. _But there he was, elfish features and curly hair all the same as moments before. It was _impossible_.

Leo chuckled slightly at the misunderstanding, and lifted his hand to create a ball of flame. Nico didn't react, still kneeling in front of him in utter shock. His eyes watered even more, and Leo definitely didn't expect what came next. In almost a blur, he felt Nico's fist connect with his jaw, not too hard, but enough to get the point across, and to startle the crap out of him. Leo sat up, flexing it, moving his jaw up and down, side to side. There was definitely going to be a bruise.

Leo hardly had the time to shoot Nico an accusing glare before Nico jumped forward. Leo flinched, waiting for another blow to the face, but it never came. No, instead, he was enveloped in a pair of thin arms and a chin, which he could feel on his shoulder. He was too shocked to move for a moment, and then patted his back.

Nico breathed a deep, shaky breath, and then pulled away, a hint of incredulousness seeping through his usually blank mask.

"It seems like we're accident prone around each other."

Leo laughed, deep and hearty.

"I've been like that from the start. You're just gonna have to live with it."

Nico smirked, looking away.

Just then, the door to the room opened, and he could hear many voices at once. Everyone raced down to the aisle they were in, wondering why they smelled smoke and saw two very happy looking boys.

* * *

**For those who don't know, a creeper is that thing people lay on when they have to slide under cars and whatnot.**

**Hope this makes up for the inattentiveness. I'm trying not to do a big plot here, just like one-shots of some firsts obvs, but thats hard for me to do because I always tend to write for plot, and before I know it have an entire story going. **

**Thanks for reading, please review!**

**-chilledcreme**


	4. Safe and Sound

**A/N Below. ENJOY!**

* * *

_BOOM!_

Nico di Angelo was nearly thrown off his feet by yet _another _blast from the giants of Gaea's army, who were throwing boulders. Thankfully, they had terrible aim, and most of the seven (besides Annabeth and Percy) were able to maneuver quick enough as to get out of the way before it hit them.

Yes. What you are wondering? Probably true.

They were at the mortal side of the doors. They went through hell and a couple of very close brushes with death to get here, but they were all here, and they were _alive, _god damn it. If they all lived through this final stage (it felt so gratifying to think that), Nico would count that as a life victory. Then he'd probably put in his retirement from this whole demigod business.

Currently, they were all trying to get through a rather large wave of Gaea's army that surrounded the doors in order to actually get to them. Both Hazel and Nico could feel through the very dirt that there were two people on the other side, although their conditions were unknown. Nico was currently killing whatever monsters he could with his sword, shadow traveling behind them when they least expect it. Jason was also using his sword and a bit of wind and lightening. Frank had turned into a _pterodactyl_, which Nico didn't even think was possible. He assumed it was logical, though, as he could fly and dodge things while also clawing and killing a good amount of the monsters he attacked. He didn't know where Hazel and Leo were, but he could only assume they were using the best of their abilities.

After pulling his sword out of some ugly bird-like creature (which crumbled into a pile of golden dust), he was almost knocked to his feet again by a boulder crashing into the earth, a little too close to Piper for comfort. Responding in kind, Jason blasted it with the biggest lightning bolt Nico had seen by far, effectively turning _that _into dust as well. Thankfully, most of the movement kept the dust from other dead monsters from forming back together completely.

They kept working like this, and Nico was sure he saw Hazel at least once, but was too concerned with his own little group of devils to think anything of it. He was relieved no one was hurt yet.

_Damn it_, he thought. _Don't jinx yourself._

He noticed people were becoming increasingly fatigued. Eventually, Jason didn't use his lighting anymore, going for the sword instead, and Nico himself was drenched in sweat and breathing heavily. His muscles and pretty much _everywhere _burned like crazy, and he just swore he would pause for one second and get a breath. He wiped the sweat off his forehead, and was slightly shocked to find blood on his hand as well.

He shouldn't have done that.

Too late, he realized that some… _creature_, had crept up behind him and knocked him off his feet. He could feel the sting of where the whip had hit his legs and felt warm liquid dripping into his pants. The creature was humanoid, standing on two feet and with two arms, and it's long face was exposing bone, but no blood. It was wearing nothing but animal fur for clothing. He could tell it had no eyes, but the sockets still glowed a vivid neon green, and it smelled like something he'd never smelled and prayed to the _gods_ he'd never smell it again.

Due to the hard blow his head received from being knocked over, he was delayed in moving, which he cursed his body for not reacting as quickly as he wanted to. For some reason, he couldn't seem to find the hilt of his sword… and he couldn't tear his eyes away from the _thing. _Suddenly, he was awash with complete and utter fear_;_ his chest began to tighten and his heart seemed to literally _stop,_ the fear bubbling up inside of him and drawing his blood cold, all while exposing all of his worst fears. Dreadful things that could hardly be spoken of, things any child that wasn't a child of Hades would probably pass out just thinking about them, and his vision grew hazy with them.

_It's controlling me,_ he thought. He shut his eyes quickly, and if it wasn't for the current situation, he would've laughed, because he even felt fear for the darkness that came with closing his eyes. His breathing quickened as he kept thinking over and over, _No need to be afraid, it's not me, it's controlling me, hold on, got to hold on… _He could feel himself backed up against a wall, or more likely a rock, and when he opened his eyes, he wasn't even there anymore.

He was in the same position, backed up against a wall, but the monster wasn't crouching above him anymore. The place he was in seemed to be an underground cave, all grey stone and glowing from a beautiful blue pond in the very center. Nico was smart, though;he knew he wasn't really there. He had to get back… where in Hades _was _he?!

He began to get up, head and vision clearing, when his heart froze again. Across the room, unmistakably, were all of his friends. Annabeth, Percy, Hazel… _Leo. _In the past month or so Leo had pretty much become his closest friend, which people might even refer to as "best friend." That almost didn't seem fitting, he didn't know what. He just knew they were… close.

His friends (_this is an illusion,_ he thought) were all slumped hastily against a wall, stacked on one another. They were injured horribly and Nico had to look away; he didn't want to see or know anything else. Something in his gut twisted, and the horror that wasn't his own took over his body, and he couldn't block it out anymore. Suddenly his vision was filled with images from his past, blurred together at a quick rate that he could barely grasp one memory before the next came along. He somehow knew that this beautiful pond could help him somehow; protect him. Just a step closer...

_It's reading my mind._

As he fell in he suddenly felt as though he was being thrown back onto the ground, and the _thing_ was now closer to his face.

And it had the same face as Bianca.

That was the final straw. His gut twisted horribly and he drew in a large breath, feeling his face give away every inch of horror he now undoubtedly felt. He let out a gut-wrenching scream that grew stronger by the second. He didn't even try to move.

_This is it. I'm going to die. _

Before he could even react, the _thing _was pulled from his lap, and its face changed back into the skull with green eyes he had seen before. He just watched in shock as a certain curly-haired boy knocked it to its knees, then delivered a flaming hammer to its head hard enough to send it flying, before turning into gold dust along with the decapitated body before them. Nico hardly had time to appreciate how elegant and strong he'd looked while doing so, as he was still hyperventilating.

Leo, who was now smoking, turned to Nico. The amount of emotion on the paler boy's face made him want to just hug him, but he couldn't now. This was too urgent for any delay. Instead, he helped him to his feet, squeezing his hand in the process. He nodded at Nico, as if asking if he were okay. Nico, who still looked pretty shaken (who could blame him), nodded back, and together, back to back, they continued Code Save Percy and Annabeth and get the Hell Out.

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**Thank you for reading! Please review, it means the world :3**


	5. Realization

**A/N for those below. enjoy!**

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The big problem arose: who would close the doors?

Percy and Annabeth were out of Tartarus. The second they reached the doors and could get through them safely, no monster tracking them, they shot out of there. Clinging to each like they were afraid that they would get sucked back in if they didn't touch another physical being, they gasped and wheezed as if they just woke up from a terrible nightmare. They pretty much did.

As they sat on the ground nearby mumbling incoherent phrases and hugging, the rest of the seven (or eight) faced each other. They didn't even need to communicate to know they were all ready to collapse, which Leo did do, falling to his knees to catch his breath. Everyone was covered in blood and dirt and perspiration, clothes torn to shreds and hair greasy and tousled. However, they weren't done yet. As the piles of dirt mixed with golden dust began to swirl, taking shaped, they all knew what had to come. Someone had to close the doors, from the inside.

Everyone knew it, but no one wanted to state it. So Nico did.

They all shared glances and knew: Percy and Annabeth were out of the question. They were like the captains, and after all the shit they went through, they were both still alive and goddammit if the rest of the demigods weren't going to let them be that way.

Nico thought. The two very first and logical choices were him and Hazel, given that they were children of Hades, god of the Underworld. Tartarus was a completely different concept, but they were closer than any "credits" the other demigods had. Out of Nico and Hazel, he knew without a doubt that he would be the better choice. Hazel was his sister; she was strong, but the only true thing she had to protect her was jewels popping up from the ground. That wouldn't last long. His stomach twisted, as he knew very well what was out there, _in _there, and what it would do to a girl who only saw beauty in the world.

So he said: "I'm going." It wasn't an offer or a question; he didn't wish to be challenged. It was a declaration.

Five pairs of eyes looked up at him in sadness. Well, four. One was filled with shock.

"No." Leo's voice sounded choked. Hell, everyone had a lump in their throat now. Nico lowered his head to hide his struggle to keep his face neutral. "I'll go."

Nico growled, "Dammit Leo! This isn't a game of 'let's pick who gets to be the hero.' It's life and death. As a child of Hades and someone who's already been down _there;," _he said, "I'm going." By now he was already marching toward the doors, which was buried in the side of a cliff on a rather grassy mountain.

He knew Leo would follow him. When he turned him around, they were a good twenty feet away from the group. Nico fixed him with a glare, but was surprised when all he got were pleading eyes.

"You can't go; let me go. You almost died last time, Nico! There isn't a way out after this!"

Nico remembered, all right. But somehow death wasn't something that intimidated him. "And what about you?" he asked through clenched teeth.

Leo looked back, desperate. He almost said "So what about me?" but he got the feeling that Nico wouldn't appreciate that. "Okay, but can't you shadow-travel back through?" He was speaking rather fast in the urgency of the moment.

Nico considered this and shook his head. "I… I don't know. Maybe. Who knows. But I have to go, Leo," he said, walking back towards the doors. The rest of them were trailing a good ten feet behind them now, already looking like they'd lost him.

Leo halted him again. "But there has to be some-"

"Leo, I don't have time to argue-"

"Just give me _five minutes-"_

"For what?!"

"-maybe I can construct something, some _device_ -"

Nico groaned, facing skyward. "For gods sake, Leo-,"

Leo grabbed his face, so Nico had to look into his eyes. He quickly let go like the action was inappropriate, but Nico found himself wishing he would grab his face again and tell him all his ideas about how he would save them, all of them. He was sure they would be good.

Leo spoke a mile a minute, not noticing that Nico's eyes were stinging from tears, oblivious that they were because of him. "I already thought of some ideas for something that can close the doors with no one sacrificing themselves, Nico, you don't have to be a _martyr-_"

"Leo, I don't have time for this!" He was furious. Leo was wasting precious time on a useless wish.

"Just give me time!" Leo's voice cracked and the tears spilled. Suddenly Nico's fury was gone as quickly as it came, as the boy who'd done nothing but smile since he'd met him suddenly broke. Nico didn't realize he meant that much to him.

"We don't have time, Leo."

_We._

Leo stopped the frantic plan-making and looked him in the eye. Despair and defeat.

Leo sniffled and looked down. "Isn't there _anything?"_

Nico cocked his head. "I don't know, Leo. I don't know what to do."

He eyed the swirling dust behind him.

"I only know what I can do."

Leo's face bunched up in the obvious effort of keeping it together. Nico didn't want to leave him there looking all pathetic, so he grabbed him into a tight hug.

Ignoring the sounds of tiny sobs and gasps from the people behind them, Leo wrapped his arms around Nico's smaller torso and buried his face in the fluff on his jacket, the spot where the neck meets the shoulder. Nico could feel his shoulders shaking.

Then he pushed him gently away.

Leo looked terrible, adding on the red eyes and nose to the whole package of the "I-just-fought-an-army-of-monsters-for-gods-know-h ow-long" look everyone was sporting today. Nico backed up, toward the doors. It seemed like eternal darkness. Even the natural light stopped illuminating the entrance after only a few feet. He stepped past the plain steel doors and into the darkness, turning one last time. He looked at everyone individually, each of their expressions as expected; Piper was crying into Jason's chest, and Jason was trying to keep strong, Hazel sobbing but never breaking his gaze, etc. Leo's eyes were red, but no more tears were flowing. He gave a very weak smile at Nico, and he could see a last little bit of happiness there.

Even now, Leo was finding happiness in the crappiest of situations.

He looked at the sun, the last light he would ever see.

As he used the last of his strength to start sliding the doors shut, grunting with the effort, he was hit with a pang. This was utterly the last time he would every see humans, be with humans, good humans who liked him; _loved _him even. He would never get to see how his new bonds would turn out. How his friendship with Leo would've turned out. Would they have been friends for the rest of their lives? Something in him felt a desire to just go back, to give Leo that time to build his contraption. Watch him build things, and put out fires with his firey-powers.

'_Just give me time.'_

And it was sadly then, as he closed those heavy steel doors and heard the giant lock connect; an inseparable barrier between him and his friends, that he realized what he truly meant to him.

Falling to his feet with a gasp, he willed all the strength in the world to travel through this undying darkness of hell and land in Leo's bed on the Argo II. Because, after all, the bed was more comfortable.

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**That last sentence was a reference to chapter one. **

**Angst ahoy!**

**Thanks to everyone who is or will follow and review. Review. Please for the love of god, review. it means the world 33**

**-chilledcreme**


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